Under Zhao Changxing's order, a space sweep operation was immediately launched with the greatest power that human civilization can use at this stage.
A total of 22 Wu-1 combat spacecraft and 30 Flame-1 transport spacecraft took on this task.
Originally, there were only 10 Wu-1 combat spacecraft, but now there are 22.
In addition to the spacecraft, hundreds of land-based and space-based deep space radars are involved in this mission. People used the most stringent attitude to scan all the space around the Sedna star inch by inch, trying not to miss even a particle of space dust.
Under this kind of search, within a month, people found 4 space objects that clearly did not belong to human civilization. This is obviously the spy satellite of the deep space civilization.
Of these four spy satellites, three successfully self-destructed during the capture process, and the last one directly paralyzed its electronic system through an electromagnetic pulse bomb, so it was considered intact.
It's just that what people get is only the "corpse" of this spy satellite, but not the "soul". Because all the electronic components inside it have been burned out, and all data have been lost.
People can be sure that unless deep space civilization adopts technology that is generationally different from the current stage of human civilization, there will definitely no longer be technological creations of non-human civilization within a range of 100,000 kilometers around Sedna.
Under this circumstance, the renovation operation of Space Elevator No. 1 finally began.
Part of the counterweight located at the end of Space Elevator 1 was temporarily removed to reduce its own weight, reduce the pressure on the space elevator cable, and prevent it from breaking beyond its limit. After that, part of the materials from Space Elevator No. 2 were picked up.
Space Elevator 1's cables are up to one meter in diameter, but that wasn't always the case. At the beginning, people just pulled a cable with a diameter of only 5 millimeters, and then continued to increase the diameter of this cable, and finally expanded its diameter to one meter, which has super tensile strength.
The same is true for the projects being carried out at this moment. The first connected space elevator cable is also only 5 mm in diameter. A cable of this size, even if it is 5,000 kilometers in length, has a volume of less than 100 cubic meters and a mass of only a few tons. It only requires a Flame 1 spacecraft to transport it up.
At the end of this first cable, a 200-ton counterweight was added, so that the cable was stretched straight. On top of this cable, subsequent cables were added, expanding its diameter to about 35 centimeters.
A cable of only 35 centimeters is enough to pull a mass of up to 10,000 tons, making it impossible for it to break free.
At this moment, the total length of the space elevator has reached the predetermined level. The final linear speed also reached 1.83 kilometers per second.
The launch platform components that have been prefabricated in advance were transported here and assembly operations began here.
Because the linear speed is too high, there is even considerable gravity here, even higher than the gravity of Sedna. It's just that the direction of gravity is opposite to that of Sedna. One points to the center of the earth, and the other points to space.
This environment is very suitable for assembly operations. There is no need to worry about parts flying around in a zero-gravity environment, nor is there any need to worry about parts being too heavy due to high gravity.
In just half a month, the launch platform with a total mass of about 2,000 tons has been completed. After that, large amounts of liquid oxygen and methane fuel began to be transported by the Flame 1 spacecraft, and the shells of five interstellar missiles used to carry out the retaliation mission were also transported.
It took about a month to put it all together. At this moment, all work has been completed.
In the War Readiness and Defense Room of the Human Government of Sun City, under the watchful eyes of several war committee members, Zhao Changxing typed a series of characters quickly on the keyboard with both hands: "Dear Deep Space Civilization, regarding the two sides you proposed before Regarding the matters related to the mutual dispatch of diplomatic envoys, we have carefully considered the matter and believe that for the sake of the long-term friendship between our two civilizations, in order to promote mutual understanding and trust, and for the subsequent cooperation in economy, trade, science and technology, industry, resources and other aspects, we believe that, It is very necessary to send envoys to each other. We are selecting suitable candidates and sincerely welcome the arrival of your envoys. I wish the friendship between our two civilizations will last forever and remain unchanged."
Simply pressing the send button, the message was transmitted to the Spark spacecraft, and then entered space at the speed of light through the antenna on the Spark spacecraft, flying towards the deep space more than 60 million kilometers away. star.
After finishing the matter, Zhao Changxing looked at the committee members.
"Have all the relevant work been done? Okay, then, let's launch."
"yes!"
Following Zhao Changxing's order, the countdown began immediately.
When the countdown reaches zero, the launch platform moves to the appropriate position. So, at the end of the space elevator, in space 10,000 kilometers away from the surface of Sedna, 100 cables holding the launch platform with a total mass of up to 10,000 tons were disconnected at the same time.
Without the traction of the space elevator cable, the launch platform was immediately "thrown" out.
Its movement speed has not changed at all, but its movement track has changed from circling before to "flying" along the tangent of the track. The gravity inside it disappeared immediately, but because people had already made preparations in advance, this did not have any impact on the interior.
At this moment, without consuming any fuel, the launch platform with a total mass of 10,000 tons has acquired an initial speed of 1.83 kilometers per second out of thin air.
After it was thrown out, ten specially modified Flame 1 transport ships filled with fuel were also thrown out, slightly offset from the launch platform, and followed it.
The next moment, ten transport spacecraft and the launch platform began to accelerate at the same time.
A dazzling bright fire appeared in the vast and deep universe. Driven by the high-speed gas generated by the burning of a huge amount of fuel, the powerful reverse thrust began to push the launch platform and the transport spacecraft together to accelerate.
When the acceleration action lasted only ten seconds, the first Flame Type 1 transport ship had already caught up with it. Both sides maintained the same acceleration rate and the same acceleration direction. The two sides were relatively still.
Under this situation, the ten fuels that had been standardized and packaged on the spacecraft were transferred to the launch platform and placed into the automatic feeding device by the staff.
The spacecraft then flew away. Soon after, the second ship, the third ship, the fourth ship...
It was not until all ten spacecrafts completed the fuel transfer that the astronauts who were performing tasks on the launch platform at great risk were quickly transferred to this spacecraft. The spacecraft then slowed down and began to return to Sedna.
At this moment, the speed of the launch platform has increased to 6.2 kilometers per second, and is still accelerating. In this case, there is no returnable human creation that can catch up with it.
People used this "unconventional" means to replenish part of the fuel for it.
In the combat readiness and defense room, Zhao Changxing and others nervously watched the acceleration process of the launch platform through the monitoring screen.
Time slipped away bit by bit. When the speed of the launch platform accelerated to 10.83 kilometers per second, the nearly 10,000 tons of fuel on the launch platform had been consumed. They all turned into gas and were sprayed out during violent combustion.
"Launch platform detached."
"Yes! The launch platform is detached!"
In the main control room, the on-site commander pressed a button nervously. The next moment, with a controlled micro-explosion, five interstellar missiles broke away from the launch platform.
In a gravity-free environment, without reference objects, they seem to be standing still at speeds of up to 10.83 kilometers per second.
Both sides are moving in the same direction and at the same speed.
"Missile ignition."
"Yes! Missile ignition."
The next moment, the five interstellar missiles that were dispersed in the controlled explosion ejected bright fire from their tails, pushing them to accelerate again.
The launch platform was immediately left behind.
Ten minutes after ignition, the third-stage fuel of the three-stage interstellar missile was exhausted, and the speed increased to 19.25 kilometers per second.
"Throw the third level."
"Yes! Throw the third level."
The third-stage missile body immediately detached.
"Enter coasting state."
The first and second stage projectiles will not ignite for the time being. They will wait until they are close enough to the deep star after a long voyage before igniting.
The inertial navigation will last for more than a month.
During this period, the steering engine equipped on the missile body will perform several short-term ignitions to apply some steering power to these missiles, causing them to slightly deviate from the fixed trajectory. This is mainly done to prevent the trajectory from being too fixed and easily predictable by the enemy.
More than a month flew by. We have now entered the end of the voyage.
"Second stage ignition!"
The five interstellar missiles, which had been shortened by half in length compared to the original ones, once again ejected fire from their tails, pushing them to speed up again.
"Throw the second level!"
At this moment, their speed has increased to 27 kilometers per second.
The total speed that the entire first level can increase is only 2.83 kilometers per second. But its status is the most important.
It will not ignite again until the missile enters the vicinity of the Deep Space Star's planetary defense system. The main purpose of doing this is to reduce the probability of being intercepted by accelerating the missile again.
This range was set by Zhao Changxing at 150,000 kilometers.
"Reporting to the leader, the missile will enter the range of the Deep Space Planetary Defense System in five minutes!"
Zhao Changxing suddenly stood up.
"Level 1, ignite!"
